Trick Photoshop

It is quite possible that you have an image that lacks contrast. You can increase the contrast with a desaturated Layer and a Curves Adjustment Layer in Photoshop. This will work with most images and is quite easy to do. It only requires a few steps.

The high contrast image. The original is just below.

I will be using this free stock image. You will find it here

It belongs to NerySoul

Step 1 : Press CTRL+J to duplicate the Background Layer to Layer 1. Press CTRL+SHIFT+U to desaturate Layer 1.

Step 2 : Change the Blend Mode to Soft Light.

Step 3 : Click New Fill or Adjustment Layer button.

Step 4 : Click on Curves from the pop up.

Step 5 : The Curves dialogue box opens. Note the diagonal in the middle. The top part represent highlights and the bottom shadows.

Step 6 : Click two points on the diagonal at the bottom and top. Drag the top point up slightly and the bottom one down slightly so that a gentle S curve is formed.

Step 7 : Change the Blend Mode of Curves 1 to Multiply and drop the Opacity to between 70 to 85% and you are done.

The finished image.

Other photoshop tutorial are here